change Books

Unlike other so-called "self-help" books, What You Can Change and What You Can't* surfaces the root of a range of discussed problems ranging from obsessions & compulsions to alcoholism. What makes this book different and thus invaluable as a "self-improvement" book is the inherent honesty, brought about by scientific scrutiny and the author's intention to provide professional, complete and unbiased assessments on what one can change, and what one cannot.

Whilst numerous other books of this category attempts to instil optimism but does nothing more than skim the surface, this book provides clear scientific details to each condition/disease discussed along with the corresponding treatments available, and how well each works.

Unbiased and very specific, the author is very clear on what to conclude on and mark as definitive and what remains unclear based on the most recent studies available, and the data they yield. When the author exerts a professional opinion, he articulates the reason behind it and provides clear data to support it, which comes across as responsible and confident.

For a category of reading so saturated with ideas that do not much more than skim the surface, I see What You Can Change and What You Can't* as a rare breed that gets to the core of the problem, and hence makes it truly useful in facilitating change and accepting what cannot, yet, be changed.

I don't understand how this book received so many good reviews, unless the author has a lot of friends who shop at Amazon.

I'll keep this short. If you're looking for help, you won't find it here. If you like outdated rhetoric, this is the book for you. For example, the author explains that one of the four cures "that work" for depression is electro-shock therapy. The last time I heard of someone actually receiving electro-shock therapy was forty years ago.

In another section, the author spends several pages explaining that depression is more prevalent now than it was fifty years ago. Is there anyone on earth who doesn't know that?

In short, please don't waste your money on this drivel! There's nothing new here, the author can't write a readable sentence, and the print is small and dark and smudgy. A difficult and useless read.

Martin Seligman first came to notice for his introduction of the concept of learned helplessness, which has given birth to the practice of cognitive therapy. Here he addresses psychological problems ranging from unipolar and bipolar depression to phobias and evaluates the merits of several types of treatment for each.

One might expect him always to recommend cognitive therapy for each problem, but he does not. He is consistently objective and humble. Moreover, his prose is clear, concise, and frequently witty, and this book his stimulated me to a great deal of additional thought, both about the things with which I immediately agreed and some things about which I disagree somewhat.

The self-improvement industry spends billions to convince people that their psychological and physical problems are fixable. The magazine covers at the checkout counter extol the latest miracle diet, but most of the people in line with you are overweight. Seasoned mental-health professional and former president of the American Psychological Association, Martin E. P. Seligman, Ph.D., has bad news for the seriously overweight: Diets don't work. Plus, he tells alcoholics and people with deep-seated emotional afflictions, there are no definitive cures for them. He notes, however, that a large minority of alcoholics do recover, though no approach is guaranteed. Seligman, whose views have generated both gratitude and controversy, details which psychological problems are treatable and which are not. His candid attitude is laudable and his advice seems well-informed, if perhaps generalized. If you've gotten thin, you've beaten the odds. Meanwhile, he recommends that people learn to live bravely with daunting emotional issues they cannot completely master - because, he says, mastery probably isn't possible. getAbstract finds this treatise about what is and isn't fixable both sobering and valuable.

First off, this book is very good.
Martin Seligman, ever the excellent research psychologist provides an overview over the big mental diseases and disorders. From everyday anxiety to panic attacks, phobias, obsessive-compulsive disorders to depression, post-traumatic stress disorder to sexual disorders, overweight and alcoholism Seligman has reviewed the literature and provides concise advice on what works for each condition and what does not. In between he mentions VERY interesting research results and historic developments in the treatment of psychological ills. These newest findings have changed his opinions as well. While in his 1993 Bestseller "Learned Optimism" he still supported the more behaviorist approaches of f.e. pessimism - the primary risk factor for later-life depression - being conditioned through "bad role modeling" by parent's dealing with adverse events (which could be UNLEARNED), he now, due to identical-twin studies, attributes virtually all mental disorders to heritability.
In a fascinating account on pages 39ff. ("Your genes and your personality") a picture of the human being as an essentially inflexible biological machine emerges, whose innate mental tendencies towards for instance anger, anxiety or depression can be at most mitigated by therapy and medication, but never cured.
Albeit I - as I'm sure he'd want to - stress that heritability in all twin-studies accounted for at most 50% probability that the personality trait of a parent would be present in the child. Incredible for example is the genetic link for criminal behavior in children and biological parents vs. adoptive parents.

But I have two points of criticism:
What I find very likeable about Seligman is that, as he pointed out in "Learned optimism" as well as this book, he is really a innate pessimist.
As such, I think he, like another reviewer here, paints a too bleak of a picture of the treament efficacies.
For starters I seriously question his claim that depression treatment works only in 2/3 of patients. I'd really guess it's more like ¾.
Second of all, he thinks it's a real disappointment, that drugs and therapy don't cure.

Why did anybody ever think you could DISCONTINUE mental treatments after time.
Why do people pray for divine help 5 times every day and incessantly go to church on Sundays.
Obviously mental issues are deeply engrained into the brain physiology. These disorders are not outside invaders that could be cast out by drugs or therapy. They are construction flaws in one's mind that must be steadily contained through long-term treatment as long as there is no such thing as "psycho-surgery".

Also i got the impression except for alcoholism and overweight he unduly plays down the improvements on many of the treatments. Be it OCD, depression, everyday anxiety or especially PTSD, whose improvements he describes as "marginal" these "marginal" improvements can mean the difference between suicide and a bearable, even content existence in many people. But of course he is right to point out, that whatever of these conditions you have, they're never gonna go completely away, and relapses are common. "But you can still manage", I would add to that.

Bottom line is, if you got any of the above disorders this is a good book. If you want more of as the title suggests a "successful guide to self-improvement" go with "Three-minute therapy" by Michael Edelstein. He covers also less pathological issues like money problems, dealing with overeating and smoking, depression, anger, panic, (social) anxieties, chronic worrying and even procrastination. Very good self-help book.
Seligman's is more like a reference book.

If you will do what is recommended in the book; you WILL see results! This book is easy to read, understand, and follow. I've tried so many other "plans", and this is the one that works for me. My weight was stubborn! It just didn't want to leave, but is now well on it's way out of my life for ever.

Our initial preview of the Kindle is that it is absolutely great! The print quality is outstanding, as are the features on the device. It took only a few moments to figure out how to utilize the scrolling and other controlling functions.

We love the dictionary feature and its ease of use. The font size selection is a real plus for us. The ability to upload books to our computer is a nice touch. It will allow us to save books per chance we begin to reach the saturation point on our Kindle.

Our Kindle only arrived yesterday, so we've not yet checked out the book "library" at Amazon. We do expect to do so shortly.

Sincerely,

Vance & Joan Shannon

I enjoyed this book so much I purchased a second copy for a friend at work.

I've been on Michael Thurmand's plan for 8 months, and lost 90 pounds. I'll read ANYTHING he writes, and do ANTHING he says.

i was actually suprised at how much weight i lost in the first week. i have had trouble loosing even a few pounds in weeks of watching my diet and excercising--i was extremly skeptical of the book-but was determined to stick to every day for the full 12 days! i lost 7 pounds in the first 5 days-and another pound the second week. it has definatley given me a jump start to healthier eating! I actually only needed to loose 10 pounds so only a few more and im at my goal weight!

A brilliant expose` of the truth about Climate Change,from a wealth of well researched and documented information.Should be read by all who believe(or doubt)the hype about global warming.

Nigel Lawson has long had a reputation as a razor sharp intellect. In this book he does not disappoint, offering up a succinct yet thorough analysis of the economics, science and politics of climate change. Lawson draws on his experience as Great Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer and Energy Secretary to produce a careful examination of the dangers we face and the options available to us. Lawson's discussion of the costs of mitigating greenhouse gas emissions is particularly valuable, as is his summary of the ethical issues raised by discounting future costs and benefits. Highly recommended.

This book is an extremely rational look at global warming that ultimately asks the reader, although not explicitly, to consider why human-kind still has a pronounced, if not suicidal, collectivist, and socialistic instinct when in all of human history only freedom has produced salutatory results. As the world socialistically unites around global warming here is the heart of Nigel Lawson's thoroughly footnoted and brilliant argument. It should encourage you to read the book, and then go on to read more about this incredible issue that so threatens the capacity for reason which we have so painstakingly developed over the centuries.

1) "The 21st century standstill [ 8 years of temperature decline], which has occurred at a time when global CO2 emissions have been rising faster than ever, is something that the conventional wisdom, and the computer models on which it relies, completely failed to predict." (page 6)

2) "They [The Hadley Centre] now forecast that, after an unpredicted, almost decade-long lull global warming will resume in 2009 or thereabouts". ( page 7)

3) "For the United States, only three of the last twelve years emerge as among the warmest since records began; and the warmest year of all was 1934." (page 9)

4) "two thirds of the Green house effect.... is water vapor....Rather a long way behind is carbon dioxide the second most important greenhouse gas." (Page 10)

5) "....the science of clouds, which is clearly critical (not the least because water vapor [the major component], as we have seen, is far and away the most important contributor to greenhouse gases is one of the least understood aspects of climate science." (page 12)

6) ...the mediaeval warm period, a benign time when temperatures were probably at least as high, if not higher than they are today ....during the Roman period, it was probably even warmer....vineyards existed as far north as Northeastern England." [where they do not exist today] (page 16)

7) "........the Greenland ice sheet appears to be melting, while at its centre, the ice is thickening. ...all to easy for Al Gore to cherry-pick local phenomena which best illustrate their [his] predetermined alarmist global narrative". ( page 19)

8) " .....making a total increase of some 1.3 F [a prediction that is hardly alarming] over the [entire] 20th century as a whole. (page 10).

9) "...is it really plausible that there is an ideal average world temperature, which by some small departures in either direction would spell disaster? The average annual temperature is...41 degrees F in Helsinki... in Singapore.... 81 degrees F. Man can successfully live with that [ a 40 degree F difference]."

10) ".....polar bears, which have been around for millennia, during which there is ample evidence that polar temperatures have varied considerably" (page 30).

11) "Sea levels have, in fact been rising very gradually for as long as records exist, and there is little sign of any acceleration so far. .....may have been less in second half of 20th century than first." (page 31)

12) "to assess the cost of climate change [assuming climate change] in the absence of adaptation is about as sensible as assessing the risk of catching pneumonia in London on the assumption that we all go out and about in the cold and the rain in our bathing costumes. Yet to a considerable extent that is just what the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel On Climate Change) does." (page 39)

13) "The Dutch managed [sea level rise] even with the technology of the 16th century."( page 42)

14) Seven out of 10 [of the worst hurricanes] occurred before 1975." (Page 50)

15) "...the overwhelming land-borne mass of polar ice [that could effect sea levels] ..is over Antarctica, not Greenland in the North....where the ice sheet is growing" (page 51).

16) "the Gulf Stream [ the ocean conveyer of warm water that Al Gore says may freeze England if interrupted by warming]...is largely a surface current, and thus a wind driven phenomena..[not related to warming]." (page 52)

17) "China's....annual increase [in emission will] .... far exceed the UK's total annual emissions." [China will] increase its power-generating capacity each year by roughly the equivalent of Britain's total capacity." (page 55)

18) "On the one hand you [the world] increase the production in China, and on the other you criticize China on the emission reduction issue, so it is unfair."......"targets should be in terms not of greenhouse gas production but in terms of gas consumption." (page 56)

19) "It was calculated at the time that if every signatory ratified Kyoto and subsequently met its emission target, [none of the signatories actually did meet their targets] the world's temperature by 2100 would be 0.1C/0.2F less than would otherwise be the case - a trivial amount". ( Page 59)

20) "According to the Hadley Center, only by a reduction of about 70% [nearly impossible] in [global] carbon dioxide emissions would we be able to stabilize its concentration in the atmosphere," ( page 65)

21) "...indeed in 2007 China suspended its production of ethanol for this reason..[ higher food costs, consumes more energy than produces, uses land and rain forests]. ( page 68)

22) "....cap and trade is arbitrary and distortionary covering some admissions and not others....anti competitive, since permits are issued to existing emitters, and not new entrants...scores badly on transparency.. lends itself to lobbying, corruption and abuse." ( page 74)

23) "...India and China have made billions by building factories whose primary purpose is to produce greenhouse gases, so that carbon traders in the rich world will pay to clean them up." ( page 76).

24 ".. [A largely gov't and bureaucracy free carbon tax such as an increase in the gasoline tax, not cap and trade] ..is the only practical means of discovering how expensive carbon needs to be in order to stimulate the changed behavior necessary to stabilize emissions...if that is the objective."

25) ..." saviors of the planet [climate warriors] are, in practice, the enemies of poverty reduction in the developing world. [due to the tremendous costs] (Page 106)

26) "With the collapse of Marxism, those who dislike capitalism..and the United States... have been obliged to find a new creed. For many of them, green is the new red." ( page 101)

27) "In primitive societies it was customary for extreme weather events to be explained as punishment from the gods for the sins of the people," ( page 102)

26) "Capitalist rationality does not do away with sub-or super-rational impulses. It merely makes them get out of hand by removing the restraint of sacred or semi-sacred tradition." (Page 104). also printed to TheIntellectual Republican, www.thedumbdemocrat.blogspot.com, Ted Baiamonte

In this thought-provoking book, Nigel Lawson asks key questions about global warming. Is the world warming and if so, why? How much warmer will it get? What will be the consequences? What can and should we do about it? What is the most cost-effective way to tackle it?

He looks at the temperature record. Surprisingly, temperatures have not risen since 2001, even though global CO2 emissions have been rising faster than ever. There was a 0.7oC rise over the last century while the CO2 in the atmosphere rose by 30%, largely caused by industrialisation driven by the rapid worldwide growth of carbon-based energy consumption (burning coal, oil and gas). Some, possibly most, of the warming is due to this growth of CO2 emissions and so of CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's 2007 report predicted a sea-level rise of between 18 and 59 centimetres by 2100. (Its 1990 report predicted a 3.67 metre rise.) The IPCC predicted a 1.8o-4oC temperature rise by 2100, a mean of less than 3oC. (At 3oC, it says, "Globally, the potential for food production is projected to increase.") 3oC is 0.03oC a year, compared to 1975-2000's 0.02oC a year.

The IPCC says the one `virtually certain' impact of global warming is `reduced human mortality from decreased cold exposure'. A 2003 Department of Health study confirmed this, predicting a decrease in cold-related mortality of 20,000 and an increase in heat-related mortality of 2,000 by the 2050s.

On the IPCC's worst case scenario, of 1% growth a year in the developed countries and 2.3% in the developing countries, global warming could cost us 5% of world GDP by 2100. This would make developed countries' GDP 2.6 times today's rather than 2.7 and developing countries' GDP 8.5 times today's rather than 9.5.

Lawson argues that we should drop the precautionary principle because it is wrong to take decisions on the basis of worst-case possibilities: probabilities, not possibilities, should be our guide.

He looks at the prospects of some specific disasters. He notes that Antarctic ice-sheets are growing, that the IPCC's 2007 report said that an `abrupt transition' of the Gulf Stream is `very unlikely' and that the World Meteorological Organization said of climate change's effects on hurricanes, "no firm conclusion can be made on this point."

The EU's Emissions Trading Scheme has increased profits for selected emitters and not cut emissions. Kyoto's Clean Development Mechanism has done no better. The EU promotes growing biofuels, yet the Chinese government has suspended the production of the biofuel ethanol because it has raised food prices.

The Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform said that meeting the EU's agreed target of 20% of energy from renewables by 2020 would raise our electricity costs by £18-22 billion a year.

In June 2007 Merkel and Blair tried to get the G8 to agree to cut emissions by 50% by 2050. The rest rejected the idea. Six months later, Britain and Germany lost again when they proposed a mandatory global emissions cut of 25-40% by 2020.

We could control the world's temperature by severely limiting carbon dioxide emissions through raising prices of carbon-based energy, to make non-carbon-based energy more competitive. But this would force our energy-intensive industries out to China and other countries. (Although China's, and India's, emissions per head are still far less than the West's.) 1990s Russia showed that the only way to meet the Kyoto targets is to destroy your industries.

Lawson argues for an across-the-board carbon tax, even if it forces our remaining energy-intensive industries abroad, and for ending subsidies to all carbon-based energy. Instead, we need to keep our industries, se we need new carbon-based power stations and new gas storage facilities, which the market has not provided and will not provide.

Here in California, everybody's gone nuts over global warming hysteria. It's become like the Inquisition of the middle ages, where dissent against orthodoxy is not tolerated. Fortunately, Nigel Lawson wrote this book, which in its 100 pages manages to debunk some of this psuedo-religion. The book comes with pages of endnotes, so that readers with more interest in the subject matter can follow up with Lawson's sources. If you only read one book this decade, make it this one.

This book is definately life changing if you are willing to do the work. The world would be a better place is everyone could apply these biblical principals to their life. Please read this book, it is a great summary of many good books I have read all in one.

I love the emphasis on scripture Gary Smalley has in this book. If you hide the word of God in your heart, it really will change your life. Thank you, Dr. Smalley for being so transparent with your personal struggles. Great book!

This book has great truth, though it was hard to read and discover all the areas of my life that sin still had a hold on, it was a true blessing to grow closer to God.

This is the most amazing book, but you have to do what he says to see results. If you aren't serious about changing your life, don't bother ordering. If you REALLY want a life of true freedom...order now.

I have always found good things in Dr Smalley's books...this one had some real practical suggestions that fit many different problems. His candor about his own life struggles and experience's make you feel like he's in this struggle with you and isn't talking down to you. He "has and is" struggling with some of the same problems we all have. I have wondered why I struggle to gain a closer relationship with God. Opening up my heart to other's is the key to opening my heart up to God.

Every woman should read this book before asking for a raise. The studies conducted are a harsh, yet empowering reminder that men often get raises, promotions, projects at work, etc. because they are not afraid to request what they think they deserve (or don't deserve!). I've recommended this book for young women just starting out in the work force, as well as seasoned executives at major companies and they have all found it useful. The information is presented in an intelligent, interesting manner- not a self-help or 'business' book, which in my opinion, is a good thing.

Babcock and Laschever have presented an excellent -- thoroughly researched and well-written -- discussion of the rationale behind, and costs of, the problems encountered when women negotiate (including a resistance to doing so). They build a damning case against gender stereotyping and socialization based on extensive scientific research and present clearly the ways in which this has hampered many women in their approach to negotiating. In particular, the discussion of the impact of disparate levels of perceived entitlement between men and women (of all ages) is extremely illuminating. It is not a book that levels blame (which does not mean that it is a comfortable read; as a professional woman I found it decidedly uncomfortable at times), but does seek to highlight ways in which we, and the society in which we live, have solidified an aversion to asking for what we want, need, or deserve.

The touted "strategies for change" are minimal (although the idea that feelings of entitlement lead to stronger bargaining is useful). Instead, the benefits of a more stereotypically feminine approach to negotiating (i.e. collaborative) are discussed, as are the ways in which modern negotiations are tending in that direction.

All in all, a book very worth reading (and one that almost all my friends will be getting!).

Another in my series of reading books that my wife has left lying around the house. This book studies why women don't seem to ask for things as frequently as men do - and the impact of not asking. I was fascinated by the data presented - in short, that (in general) men seem to view everything in life as negotiable, while women consider most things as non-negotiable. In fact, I noticed this yesterday at the local Big 5 store - the guy in front of me just flat out asked for an extra discount - no reason given - and he got 10% off, just for asking. I asked about a AAA discount, but the clerk seemed to have run out of freebies. This book was certainly useful to me as we bought a car and arranged to have our house painted during the period I read it. (Total savings, $700 and I could have done better).

This book was also very relevant to me as a parent, as I see Matthew always asks for what he wants, with no qualms at all - whereas Emily is more hesitant as she considers the ramifications of her request (will I get mad, will relationships be endangered, perhaps I will guess what she wants without her having to ask, etc.). All in all, lots of good lessons for Emily and I.

Also, the book does not simply say "men ask for more, they get more, women should be like men" - but rather point out ways in which women's typical negotiating style (relationship oriented) can work out well in the long run and how women can leverage that style to be more effective. But I think it also helps women to realize that much of life is actually negotiable and that there are opportunities waiting to be grabbed.

Women Don't Ask is one of the best blends of "journalism + academic writing" that I have seen. As I have noted before, journalist writing is often "light" - statements are not deeply justified, ramifications not fully explored, objections not effectively countered. On the other hand, academic writing (which has none of those flaws) can be dense and unreadable. This book is a near-perfect balance. Probably helps that one author is a journalist and the other is a professor - but the book is co-written seamlessly.

This book does a wonderful job of sharing all the research which explains why women are less likely to negotiate, less likely to ask for what they want, and less likely to get what they want. However, what's missing from this book is how women can overcome these barriers. The sequel to this book, "Ask For It", does a great job answering that question. If you're looking for ideas of how to improve woman's likelihood to negotiate and a woman's likelihood to ask, buy the sequel. If you're interested in WHY women are less likely to ask, stick with this book!

To say I was a little disappointed with this book is probably an understatement.
I was expecting a hybrid of the psychology behind why women don't ask and coaching or mentoring points (checklist if you like) of actions and strategies to improve.
This is not what I found.
The book was interesting to some degree but it was difficult to pinpoint actions or strategies for improvement, they weren't spelled out in easy to read format, nor were they easy to identify.

Help in good manner to diagnose culture in organization. Have developed based on their approach a light software application.Very useful. Help to develop competency models based on cultural approach.

This is a great book. In addition, I recommend "Strategic Organizational Change" by Michael Beitler.

The authors provide a great model for understanding and diagnosing organizations. Their cultural quandrant methodology also provides a common language for people within an organization to talk about what they have and what they want. I recommend this for everyone who wants to understand their own organization. Their instrument (OCAI) is both easy to understand and easy to use.

The model presented is an interesting and for the most part effective one. For an alternative model see O'Reilly, Chatman and Caldwell's OCP Method and in particular the commercially available web tools from ThinkShed (www.thinkshed.com) that leverage the method.

Whichever method you use, culture change is ultimately about the application of a consistent approach...my personal preference is the OCP because of the availability of robust web based tools that enable one to penetrate the organization to a much deeper level than is otherwise possible with a paper based model or an interview based model. This can be important if you are wanting to get at deeply rooted and/or problematic sub-cultures.

Smith

This is the most helpful book available on organizational culture. Their OCAI instrument (for diagnosing organizational culture) alone is worth more than the price of the book. I use Cameron & Quinn's material with every one of my clients.

Dr. Michael Beitler
Author of "Strategic Organizational Change"

Outstanding work offering insight into some of life's "misconceptions". David Richo not only constructs his work on these insights but also guides us to embrace issues that might previously been seen as "life's disappointments". He portrays his "five givens" as challenges that we will face and introduces the rather radical approach that they are not negatives. He shows that by resisting these "givens" we set ourselves up for sorrow, disappointment, and frustration. He walks us through a process of learning how to truly accept and embrace them as necessary for our personal quest for growth and happiness. He mixes modern psychology and Eastern spirituality in order to teach the reader how to find fulfillment and joy by accepting concepts that we often deny and oppose.

Wish I had read it decades ago. Will definitely improve the quality of decades to come.

I read this book and then let my friends read it. It is a great book full of perspectives contradictory to 21st century American thought. It is full of truths which will bring an individual pathways to peace.

I'm not one to read self-help or psychological tomes but I'm going through a very painful surprise divorce and am seeking positive healing wherever I can. Dave Richo's book is one that puts a loving spin on all the challenges of life. Never saying it will be easy but that our higher powers and/or friend support and/or therapists will be there to help us get through to the benefits awaiting on the other side of the pain. The constant suggestions of peaceful, non-retributive, loving and compassionate thoughts and centering beliefs helped me know that I have a better opportunity to be the person I want to be now that this pain has 'pushed me through the door' to actualize my life.

I am buying several copies of the book to share with my friends and adult children so that they too have the chance to be reminded that love, compassion, peace, and caring are the real meaningful gifts we can share with ourselves and others. I hope you'll read this book, too, and find the helpful tools for getting through challenges and turning them into that which makes us stronger and potentially happier.

David Richo is one of the most straightforward and wise writers on self help I've ever read. By combining the timeless wisdom of the East, particularly Buddhism and Taoism, with contemporary Western psychology, he offers wisdom far more valuable, useful and honest than most of the current temporary feel-good fads that offer little in the way of real substance.
For those who want to continue to live in a fantasy world where all their dreams and wishes come true if they only work hard enough and believe hard enough, this book might be a surprising pin prick in their dream world bubble. The good news is, by accepting reality the way it really is rather than how we want it to be, we are in tune with life and thus face far less difficulties than those who continue to struggle against reality.
Reality always wins. Get used to it. This book can help.

Just when I'm about to get overwhelmed, Bryon Katie comes to the rescue. Let me tell you it's GREAT not to fight reality 24/7, particularly in personal relations. We are so use to it, we don't even realize it most of the time. thank you for your work BK!!

Katie always makes it simple and easy she has a way of telling you to cleanup your own yard and leave your friends and neighbors alone in other words mind your own business you will have plenty to do there. She has lived the life and is one of the most enlightened people on this planet We are very blessed to have her. Her books are all great but this one is my favorite. Love Joan

There are many great ideas in this book. I use this book almost everyday. It's small, but filled with so much good information. If you are a fan of Katie, or you do "The Work" this will be a nice addition to your library.

I got taken in by Byron Katie's "work", used to think it was great. It seemed to "work" in the beginning. Over time I started finding holes in it. Bigger and bigger holes. Then I did some internet research and learned that people have been reporting big problems with Byron Katie and her method. I've come to agree that she's full of it.

Under NO circumstances do I recommend taking a seminar with this woman. I urge you to do a search for "Byron Katie" and "cult" and evaluate the info that's been coming out about her.

As an alternative source of self-help, I recommend "Authentic Happiness" by Martin Seligman. I've found it incredibly helpful and completely without harmful side-effects, unlike what I ended up experiencing with Byron Katie and her bogus "work".

These Byron Katie tidbits are well chosen, entertaining & they pack a transformative punch. I keep this book near me & whenever i need to turn my consciousness around--whenever my thoughts have me suffering--i open to any page. It always works.

Byron Katie doesn't traffic in the "spiritual" or in banal self-improvement. Her work is profound. It holds up a mirror to your reality. It annihilates suffering. We are lucky to have her.

I couldn't put this book down once I started reading it. The author takes a wrecking-ball to establishment views about homework, revealing the shoddy and sometimes deliberately deceptive "research" used to justify massive quantities of homework. Hence it is also a good case study in how ideological partisans fudge the facts in order to sell an idea to the public, and a lesson in revealing false claims. Always go to the primary source!

Homework as it is portrayed in this book is child abuse. It is part of a larger scheme to program children so that they will function more efficiently in the "New Economy" - the low-wage, service sector economy, where the most highly valued employee asset is the ability to obey orders without question and submit to mind-numbing and repetitive tasks on a daily basis. The schools want children to "get used to it now", since it is what most of them will end up doing anyway.

Why is endless work and toil glorified? Why is it deemed good to turn human beings in to "good workers"? We have technology now that requires far less labor to create the basic goods and luxuries of life in much shorter periods of time! We're at work creating wealth and profit so that a few people can amass billions in personal fortunes. We don't need this system. This system does however need us, and we can break it by withdrawing our support. Burning homework assignments would be a good place to start.

We live in an achievement driven culture that is so obsessed with success we often don't question the value of those things we do to reach them. Alife Kohn's book The Homework Myth takes us down the rabbit hole showing us the flawed assumptions and conlcusions of numberous studies and how they shape school policy teaaching children not to love learning but to hate it. We categorize, grade and put our children into slots using homework, "standardized testing" and other devices that often are meaningless measures of true intelligence or success. As Kohn quotes one writer, grades are "an inadquate report of an inaccurate judgment by a biased and variable judge of the extent to which a student has attained an undefined mastery of anunknown proportion of an indefinite amount of material". Got that? In other words, grades are as subjective and uninformative as can be. The same can be said for homework and how it adds to our children's understanding of the material. Kohn takes apart multiple studies that have been done to support the concept of homework and discovers that these flawed studies were designed to prove their point rather than find out the true meaning and understanding of homework in our children's ability to learn.

Kohn suggests that a placebo like effect is seen in studies designed to evaluate the effectiveness of homework and he has a valid point. He points out the flawed thinking of teachers and school districts believing that homework correlates to academic benefit. There's no clear cut evidence of this. He also looks at the detrimental effect that homework has on family life, social interaction and questions the nonacademic benefits of the homework "system". He shows why homework persists based on miconceptions about how people learn, competitiveness and an essential distrust of children and how they spent their time (something you'll also find in the business world which is why "busy work" is assgined as well despite the fact that it burns out employees and makes them not enjoy the work they do. In a sense, I suppose you could argue that homework prepares children for the pointlessness of the work world--i.e., "better get used to it" as Kohn refers to the pointless tasks we'll be asked to do later in life).

Kohn also takes on the myths of testing (since homework often is preparation for testing particularly to make sure that children do well on standardized testing).

We find out nothing about whether a child's learning has improved or deepened but instead how well a child can memorize by rote. Every hour spent making sure that children do well on standardized testing is time taken away from true learning (you're teaching them to take the test well not to develop critical thinking skills).

For example, he looks at standarized testing and discovers that
1) Timed tests put a premuium not on thoughtfulness but on speed.
2) Tests that focus on "basic skills" are geared towards cramming facts that are useless without the connection to comprehension and ideas.
3) Most children under the ages of eight or nine are tripped up by the format because they don't understand its purpose and, as a result, don't do well.
4) "norm-referenced" studies are designed not to measure knowledge but, instead, to artifically rank students focusing on the competition not on comprehension. In other words, some children are better at taking these tests than others but it doesn't give us a sense of their depth or understanding of the materials and is useless.

This book should be required reading for school administrators, teachers and**yes**parents. It's a thoughtful look at how we are destroying the desire to learn with often untested or assumptions that we make about human behavior. I highly recommend this book for any school age parent simply because it will help you understand the system and its flaws.

This is one those books that can be hard to swallow because the message doesn't just question accepted thinking on the importance of homework, it shows that the use of homework does not increase achievement. The use of homework is amazingly a negative in the lower grades - some measures of achievement in the presence of homework were actually worse than not having any homework.

I loved this book, because I want to be right and do the best for my students.

For the most part, all of us have grown up doing homework while going to school. However, has doing hours of homework made any of us better students or more knowledgeable in the subjects we are learning? That, in essence, is the question being posed by the author of this book. And, his answer is a resounding no, especially when dealing with children who are younger than high school age.

I have watched my daughter do homework from the time she was in kindergarten and wondered at the point of it all. Most of the time it was worksheets that seemed to be little more than an attempt to pound information through her head. However, as a gifted student, she already understood the material and only ended up frustrated at having to spend more and more of her spare time doing work she already knew. She went from being a student who loved to go to school to one who cringes at the thought and I suspect homework is one main reason.

The studies presented in the book by the author that show homework is of little value validate what I have been saying for years. I found it very interesting that there is no correlation between increased homework and better grades or improved test scores on standardized tests. However, as we move to a more "test" driven world, class time becomes much more valuable and increases in homework become the norm, to the point where many students end up having no life left after school and homework.

My daughter, although still in high school, is taking a college course at a local community college. It was fascinating to read the policies of the college. One states that to get an A in a three credit course, the student is expected to do 7 ½ hours of homework a week. When multiplied by 6 courses, which is what my daughter takes at high school, the amount of homework expected for a top grade is 45 hours. When class time is included, that makes a total of about 60 hours a week. Yet at the high school, she is in class for 35 hours a week and has about 30 hours of homework assigned each week. So, she is doing more work in high school than would be expected in college. Something is very wrong with this picture.

All parents should read this book and understand the contents. If you don't read it and complain now, your child will lose more and more of their free time as they get older. It won't make them better students; just bitter at the experience.

Alfie Kohn is a nationally known educator and author of several books about the learning experience. Many things about the homework puzzle seem to frustrate Kohn and others like him: The fact that there is no study that shows a positive link between homework and achievement; that society seems to accept homework as a given, without question and without criticism, even though there is no proof that it works; and that homework isn't more readily challenged. These issues are addressed in this book, along with possible alternatives to the conventional wisdom that homework is necessary and essential for learning.

I have been involved in the education field myself, but my involvement has been strictly on an adult level. Still, I read this book with an active interest because I was curious to see if Kohn would offer any research or general advice on giving out homework to people of different ages. While this book is intended as an examination of homework for grade school age children and high school age, there is one small correlation that Kohn has found, through his and others' research, about homework: It seems to slightly improve the performance of older kids (high school age), while having no positive effect at all on younger children. The older people get, the more valuable homework seems to be. However, the correlation between homework and learning is still very slight- even for high school age students- and Kohn believes that the entire system of giving out homework needs to be revamped.

Besides just talk directly about homework, I like the fact that Kohn discusses some of the human psychology behind homework and the tendency of people and society in general to accept things the way they are instead of demanding change, or at least insisting on a consideration of change. In regards to homework (and other facts of life), most people seem to believe that homework is good because, well, everyone in the past has done homework so today's young people should be expected to do the same. "I had to suffer when I was young, so you should suffer too" seems to be the attitude of many parents. What is also interesting is the homework relationship to declining school performance and the reaction by most educators and parents. Because it is assumed that homework is good and necessary for learning, when schools fail to make the grade, the reaction is usually met by- what else- more homework! In other words, very few people step back and consider that maybe excessive homework is the cause of school failure. The assumption is that homework is good, and therefore the reaction is to increase the homework load still further.

Alfie Kohn presents an intelligent discussion of homework in this book and among the many things I like about his writing is the fact that he is not only respectful of dissenters, he is also completely open to considering future research that confirms the effectiveness of homework. But until someone can show him a study that confirms the effectiveness of homework, Kohn is going to stick with his position that homework isn't the cure- all that people think it is, especially for grade school- age children.

Overall, The Homework Myth is an effective book by a renowned educator and writer. It is full of statistics and facts to back its case, and it offers some good, sensible discussion on why people think the way they do about homework and how parents, educators, and students can work together to lessen the homework load, improve the learning process through other means, and enhance both education and family life. It is a good book to read for anyone who is involved in the teaching or general education fields.

While the uses that are found in this book are plausible, most are minor and not really what is advertised. Most are everyday things, but you have to have a lot of non-everyday things to complete the project.

Sneaky Uses for Everyday Things: How to Turn a Penny into a Radio, Make a Flood Alarm with an Aspirin, Change Milk into Plastic, Extract Water and Electricity ... a TV with Your Ring, and Other Amazing Feats

Just in case you didn't understand, let me say at the outset, this book was written and is obviously intended for kids. Boys, most likely, and under the age of 10 or 11 is about right.

For THAT audience, this book is actually quite interesting. If you have a Ph.D. in physics, don't buy it. And if you considered the idea, how did you get that Ph.D., again?

Not to be a smarty, or anything, but I'm really surprised at readers trashing this book because it's not useful. The book is meant to put kids into the discovery mode, to see capabilities in things they might not otherwise have seen, to think outside the box, as it were.

And while not all the suggestions here provide the least bit of interest to an adult, I have to wonder why anyone would have bought this book expecting to get a Master's Degree in Science from it. Geez, the title alone is a dead giveaway.

If this book were published by Brown Paper School, a la The Book of Think: Or, How to Solve a Problem Twice Your Size, it would have five stars from everyone. And apart from the marketing, which should put "for kids" or something like on the cover, the book deserves 5 stars.

Personally, while I've no intention of running the experiment, I found it interesting to read about how to extract drinking water from a plant. Remember, "you can survive a month without food, but only a few days without water."

And for curious kids at least, this book is akin to water.

I thought it was going to have some extraordinary ways on how to make the gadgets using the household items, but the devices are not very practical or convenient. might be a good space filler in a science class, or ideas for scientific experiments, but nothing i see that could be used in actual situations

Just be aware - nothing in this book would amaze anyone over the age of 10.

My favorite "project" - lash a piece of glass to a stick to make a "survival tool".

If you're old enough to have your own credit card to purchase this, you're too old for this book.